Civil Liberties

The Back Door to Silence

By Justin Katz | May 29, 2009 |

Given the hour, perhaps this news excuses a cliché: first, they came for the Christians: A local pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a San Diego County official, who then threatened them with escalating fines if they continued to hold Bible studies in their home, 10News reported. Attorney Dean Broyles of The…

The Nature of the Prostitution Business

By Justin Katz | April 28, 2009 |

The other afternoon, Dan Yorke was discussing, on 630AM/99.7FM WPRO, the human trafficking side of Rhode Island’s legal prostitution business, and several callers put forward the argument maintaining the occupation’s legality in Rhode Island prevents a slide down the slippery slope of interference in our bedrooms. The obvious response that came to mind was that…

The ACLU is Wrong on Legislative Immunity

By Carroll Andrew Morse | April 24, 2009 |

The Rhode Island Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a legal brief supporting former Senate President William Irons’ claim that the Rhode Island Constitution’s Ethics Amendment cannot be applied to the official acts of state legislators, because such an application would conflict with “speech-in-debate” immunity also granted to legislators at the Constitutional…

When Big Brother Starts to Come Together

By Justin Katz | April 19, 2009 |

Such gradual expansions of programs appear innocent from up close and always present legitimate claims of practicality, but they create channels for illegitimate power awaiting application: Law enforcement officials are vastly expanding their collection of DNA to include millions more people who have been arrested or detained but not yet convicted. The move, intended to…

The Path Toward Suppression of the Opposition

By Justin Katz | April 18, 2009 |

As Andrew McCarthy points out, government surveillance experienced a justifiable increase after “attacks that claimed more American lives than Pearl Harbor and capped a series of atrocities stretching back several years.” As many on the left and right have been deliberate in emphasizing, however, that enhancement bears close watching. Indeed, the greatest argument against all…

The Fundamental Dishonesty of an Antidemocratic Movement

By Justin Katz | April 4, 2009 |

If one knows the history of the same-sex marriage debate, the opening paragraph of this editorialized report in the DesMoines Register strikes an odd note: Basic fairness and constitutional equal protection were the linchpins of Friday’s historic Iowa Supreme Court ruling that overturned a 10-year-old ban on same-sex marriage and puts Iowa squarely in the…

Fitzpatrick Not for Censorship

By Justin Katz | April 3, 2009 |

Ed Fitzpatrick has emailed to correct my impression that he would prefer the Supreme Court to make a narrow ruling that bans Hillary: the Movie: “I am totally against banning this film.” I had read the “narrow ruling” sentence as suggesting one that would ensnare this movie without enabling the broad control that the cited…

Ed Fitzpatrick’s Pick-and-Choose Censorship

By Justin Katz | April 1, 2009 |

Most of us on the right have opposed campaign finance reform, as enacted, and it wouldn’t be outlandish to suggest that the issue cost McCain votes and good will for his bid for president. Folks on the left, particularly in the mainstream media, tend to have a sunnier view. Of course, media types tend to…

A Step Towards State-Run Media in the US?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | March 24, 2009 |

This is a tad frightening…With many U.S. newspapers struggling to survive, [Democratic Senator Benjamin Cardin] on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks… Cardin’s Newspaper Revitalization Act would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits for educational purposes under the U.S. tax…

Reed and Whitehouse Oppose Free Speech

By Justin Katz | March 1, 2009 |

Via Ocean State Republican, via Club for Growth, we learn that Rhode Island’s delegation provided two of the mere eleven U.S. Senators who broke with eighty-seven of their peers by voting against a Republican amendment preventing “the Federal Communications Commission from repromulgating the fairness doctrine.” Here’s where political calculations come into play: The amendment was…